Beeswax – a very valuable resource
Last year, the publication of specialised articles on the contamination and adulteration of beeswax shook the beekeeping community. Among beekeepers, awareness has grown regarding the importance of the condition of wax: indeed, both the quality of our products and, of course, the health of our colonies depend on it (1).
A brief history
Around the middle of the 19th century, the first hive with movable frames was invented by the Polish beekeeper Jan Dzierżon, who is therefore still regarded today as the “father of modern beekeeping”. During the same century, a German cabinetmaker produced the first wooden mould inspired by the size of a worker cell (drones were then considered of little use!). Thus, beekeeping practice was revolutionised through the use of the first artificial combs. Hives equipped with movable frames fitted with foundation sheets henceforth allowed beekeepers to harvest honey without destroying the bees’ nest, using the centrifuge, which appeared at roughly the same time.
Beeswax, until then mainly a raw material used for making candles to illuminate temples, churches and manor houses, evolved from a by-product into an important recyclable product: the foundation sheet2.
The advantages of wax
| Bees produce wax using their four pairs of abdominal wax glands. Wax is easily malleable and lightweight. Nevertheless, it enables bees to build solid structures. A colony of average size must produce approximately 1,200 grams of wax to build its nest. The roughly 100,000 cells thus constructed house bee bread and honey reserves and, of course, the eggs, larvae and pupae of the developing bees3. |  |
Another advantage of wax is that beekeepers can easily harvest and recycle it. Recycling, however, may involve certain risks: the transmission of diseases, such as foulbrood, is possible via wax but can be ruled out provided it is heated to at least 121 °C for 30 minutes before the manufacture of foundation sheets. This process, carried out by your trusted wax processor, does not eliminate certain chemical-synthetic residues. Indeed, active substances such as flumethrin and coumaphos contained in beekeeping preparations not recommended by the SSA and CRA—Bayvarol, CheckMite+ and Perizin—as well as residues from various plant protection products, cannot be removed in this way. On the contrary, they accumulate over time in the wax and eventually become toxic to colonies once a certain concentration is reached.
The Bee Research Centre regularly monitors the quality of Swiss wax through a monitoring programme involving all wax-processing companies. This surveillance provides an overview of residue loads and indicates which chemical products are used in Swiss beekeeping. Beekeeping practice is decisive in ensuring and maintaining wax quality!
What can you do to actively contribute?
As a responsible beekeeper, you will ensure good hygiene and renew at least one third of brood and honey frames each year. In doing so, you eliminate potential pathogens and enable your colonies to raise healthy bees of normal size. Old frames should be melted down or disposed of as quickly as possible in order to prevent infestation by wax moths. This good beekeeping practice will also help limit the spread of the small hive beetle when it arrives in Switzerland.
To control varroa, only approved formic and oxalic acids should be used, as these substances do not accumulate in wax.
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In order to reduce possible residues by dilution, we recommend collecting and melting cappings, drone frames and natural comb. This new wax will be mixed with wax recovered from honey and brood frames (the latter only if it has not come into contact with chemical-synthetic anti-varroa products) and taken to a trusted wax processor, who will produce foundation sheets. |
If the number of your colonies does not allow rapid access to your own wax (quantity too small to be taken to a wax processor), join forces with fellow beekeepers in the same situation.
We recommend refraining from purchasing cheap wax, whether of foreign origin or not. It may contain undesirable substances (residues of acaricides and/or plant protection products and/or stearin and/or paraffin) and may prove harmful to the health of your colonies!
► For further information on wax, consult the apiservice.ch factsheets:
2.6. Wax moth
4.1. Hygiene
4.4. Frame renewal
4.4.1. Melting frames
Sources:
1 Adulteration and contamination of beeswax, R. Ritter
2 Beeswax: production / processing / products; Armin Spürgin, Ulmer-Verlag
3 The Buzz about Bees; Jürgen Tautz, De Boeck Editions